W2R,R2W:
I do not blame you for the confusion regarding motor manufacturer vs. car manufacturer.
I am in the impression that this thread was on the topic of the first not that latter. Somewhat related but not quite.

In response to Neo1, when quarterly profits and short-term gain only drive business, only short-term success can be achieved. When long-term growth and investments drive a business, and employees are treated with an expectation that their performance will impact their long-term compensation, the company moves slowly and steadily towards long-term success. Sadly, this is a point brought to the forefront in several recent cases of recalls of drinking glasses with decorated with lead paint and children's toys cast of cadmium alloys, where the articles in question were made by employees of firms where employees must meet daily quotas to be fed. Morals are a cute excuse, and we will all die someday, but we may not die before the effects of what we have done, and our children and theirs will likely see the consequences.
On the other hand, if it must owned by a foreign company, ABB is not such a bad fit for Baldor, and has a long and relatively honorable record.

Question: if the drive is such one important device from the point of view of the operating costs of a motor, why Baldor never looked that issue?
they did not even responded to any discussion starting letters, [we have two US patents on power-factor correction, verified at the DOE's motor research center]

When did moral start figuring in the business. Morals are good for individuals not for companies, because when it comes to rightness over money, everybody knows who wins in the end. I think these capitalists all have etched the Keynes thinking that ".., in the long term we are all dead". Well, it may not be wrong after all!
I know Baldor from my earlier years as an electrical maintenance engineer. A name which commanded respect and quality, we had their motor's in many critical process equipment.

I am not aware of exactly how the sale of Baldor to ABB came about, but it is certain that when the board of directors decided to sell for some price, the only consideration was how much money it would provide for those individuals who decide the size of bonuses. The BOD has no concern at all for the value delivered to those who purchase a product, only for the ROI delivered.

I'm afraid Nic is right. No nationality, no religion and (you should have added Nic)no morals either. But that does not mean Business is right. As employees, we are encouraged to have pride in our company, as citizens, we are encouraged to have pride in our country. Yet companies are almost encouraged to take jobs away from their employees, and profits away from their country.
The time is coming when voters are going to demand that business be legislated into moral conduct, if they won't do it voluntarily. As part of that, tax imports or offshoring that do not meet the internal standards of a country, in terms of minimum wages and rights and safety standards. Apart from anything else, this would force developing countries to lift their game, to their ultimate advantage.
On a wider scale, the Australian government is currently trying to implement a carbon tax. It's very much opposed, not least because if our iron ore and coal are exported, processed into steel in countries like China without a carbon tax, and the steel is imported back to Aussie then it has no carbon tax on it, to the disadvantage of Australian producers who do pay it.
Governments are just as bad as business in this respect - no respect for their citizens at all.
Sorry, this is a bit off the subject of the post - ABB don't look like they're going to move production offshore... sounds like they knew a good thing when they saw it and the shareholders of Baldor didn't. Or maybe ABB just wants to learn the technology and THEN move production offshore...

It's business my friends, plain old business. You manufacture where labor is cheap. Business has no nationality, no religion, just profit as a goal: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/smith-adam/works/wealth-of-nations/index.htm
And with all the turmoil in the world today, it's still the better way.

in response to David Ashton and to be fair to ABB they have not indicated that they are moving any Baldor production overseas, in fact Randy Breaux said they are opening more capacity in the midwest as their business grows this year. Baldor is also one of the few companies making the EISA energy compliant motors which is also an advantage. Motors are heavy and highly customized so I think there is a future in US production.